My Beloved Angel
by Sayuri Lapis
Summary: Aoi has suspicions that Yusaku is Playmaker. Akira is her overprotective brother, who is quite nosy. Yusaku is the boy that Aoi has a crush on. Emma is Aoi's advisor on love. So where does this leave the Knights of Hanoi, especially Revolver? Nowhere, that's for sure. Love can be a sticky mess, but you never know. Angelmakershipping. Rating will go up later on.
1. Chapter 1

My Beloved Angel

Chapter 1

 **Sayuri Lapis: This is a Angelmakershipping story completely unrelated to Heartbreak Symphony and stands on its own. I am rating it T for now because it is clean, but it will eventually go up. I hope you enjoy the story and Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS does not belong to me.**

"How many times must I tell you to stay out of Link VRAINS!" Akira angrily barked at Aoi over the smartphone. "Do you want the Knights of Hanoi to send you into a coma again? We got lucky once because Playmaker dueled Revolver and won the virus removal program. If they infect you with another virus, it's highly likely that Playmaker won't be able to save you again and you'll suffer severe brain damage."

"Nii-sama, please..." Aoi begged, staring at her brother-in-law's angry face on her screen. She hated seeing her brother look so livid. His face was so red that Aoi was worried that his head might explode.

"I don't want to hear any nii-sama from you! If I see that you have logged into Link VRAINS one more time, I will erase your account!" He spat on the screen. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand." The brown-haired girl spoke solemnly.

"We'll see Aoi. We'll see." Her brother fumed and ended the call between them. Aoi turned her phone off and plopped herself on the bed in defeat, still in her school uniform. Every argument with her brother always ended like this.

She had logged onto Link VRAINS hours earlier, under the avatar Blue Angel to have a little fun with the other avatars in the form of dueling. Of course, there were other things to do in Link VRAINS but dueling seemed to be the most popular sport.

She had dueled a timid young boy who seemed to have chronic low self-esteem. She felt so sorry for him that she decided to go easy on him during dueling, meaning that she didn't do complex combos and did only one Link Summon.

At the end of the duel, she had won, but the young boy wasn't bothered by his defeat. Rather, he was enchanted by her and promised that he would try to get better and win every duel he was proposed just for her. Blue Angel smiled for him and he logged off.

At the same time, the Knights of Hanoi were on rampage in Link VRAINS again, forcing many avatars to duel against their will and turn them into Anothers, which prevented them from logging out and sent them into a coma in real life.

Fearing that she would become an Another again, she logged off as quickly as she could so the Knights of Hanoi wouldn't target her, and found herself back in the location she used to log on. It wasn't until she got home that her smartphone was vibrating violently in her backpack and she noticed that her older brother was calling so she answered it and it led to him screaming at her until the call ended.

"It's not fair." She murmured sadly. Why was her brother so overprotective? She was only trying to have fun and spice up her boring life a little. Especially when she didn't know anyone at Den City High School or have any friends.

Aoi wasn't a little girl anymore that's for sure. She was 16 years old now and in the final institution of her public education named Den City High School. The brown-haired girl wasn't 5 years old anymore. She was a big girl now. Why couldn't her older brother see that? Was his vision blocked by fog or clouds that he couldn't see how much she had matured?

Aoi decided not to waste anymore time thinking about their fight and went to go after a man of her interest.

His name was Yusaku Fujiki.

Aoi had expressed interest in him for quite some time now, ever since he approached her that one morning while they were on school grounds before the day had started. When they had first met, Aoi noticed his bright emerald eyes and colorful blue and pink hair. It was surprising that no one had spoke about it, not even the faculty.

She had to admit he looked cute.

Wait, scratch that.

He looked _hot_. His voice was deep and mature. He had the looks of a hot high schooler, unlike the other males in the grade, who still had premature voices and looks. Naoki Shima, the kid who was always around Yusaku like an annoying fly, was an obvious example. Aoi had a bit of detestation for him deep inside of herself. He wasn't a bad guy though. Just a tad bit annoying.

Aoi sat up and grabbed her tablet from her drawer next to her bed. She turned it on and watched what was going on in Link VRAINS, using a butterfly as an avatar to watch.

The Knights of Hanoi were still lounging around and making trouble, but a data trail stood between them and a bright colored avatar with a dark colored tight suit surfed through them. He turned around and stared at the Knights in pity.

"I swear to erase each and every one of you knights!" He pointed his finger at them. They looked surprised, and then they laughed, as if he could ever try to take them down.

Even Aoi smiled a little. She liked Playmaker a lot. She knew how strong he was.

So heroic, so brave, and chivalrous too. He was the most popular avatar of the network as well as its saving grace. He was so popular, that there were so many fake and absurd imitations of him, but that didn't even bother him.

All he was focused on was taking down the knights.

Aoi suspected that Playmaker was actually Yusaku in real life. She was wondering about that for a while. One of the things that made her suspect that was his duel disk.

Yusaku's duel disk was so outdated, no one used it anymore. Every user used duel disks developed by SOL Technologies that didn't require a deck to log in. The second thing that made her suspect that the he could be Yusaku was his appearance.

Sure, the appearance didn't match 100%, but his eyes were close. They had to be.

To confirm her suspicions, Aoi was planning to confront Playmaker in a form of a challenge to a duel with her, but in reality, she just wanted to talk in a private place to keep the nosy press away.

The door opened from downstairs and Aoi turned off her tablet and sprung up from her bed. She opened the door ran into her brother. He looked up and locked eyes with his little step-sister. From the look on his face, it was crystal-clear to Aoi that she wasn't off the hook yet.

"I'm still disappointed in you. You better not pull any kind of shit like that on me ever again. I care about you deeply, and you know that. My reputation at SOL Technologies is not only in my hands, but in your hands as well. Please take that into consideration." His mouth spat when he said the word _shit_.

"Yes onii-sama." Aoi murmured blandly, biting her lip hard enough to draw out red colored liquid.

Inside though, she was shaking with fury. Her brother shouldn't dictate on how she lived her life or the choices she made. What was going to come next? He was going to tell her on how to use her body? Tell her what she should think or not think? What political party she should side with?

"The robot is preparing our dinner. Come down and eat with me." Akira told her.

"I will." Aoi replied in the same bland tone. She closed her bedroom door and went into the kitchen.

The brunette sat down at the dining table, with forks and spoons and a china plate in front of her. The robot maid served her and Akira hot piping curry with steaming rice.

"Aoi, why have you not changed out of your uniform yet? The curry is going to stain it and laundry day was just yesterday." Akira spoke in a disappointed voice. "How many times do I have to remind you about this?"

"Sorry. I'll go change it." Aoi apologized and stood up from her seat. Just as she was going to leave the kitchen, Akira stood up.

"No, you will sit here and eat your curry and rice and you can change it after. I wouldn't want you to eat cold food." Akira scolded.

 _But you just told me that I shouldn't eat dinner with my uniform on!_ Aoi thought in arrogance, but instead of lashing out at her brother, she obeyed him and sat back in her seat.

The room fell silent, with only the quiet sounds of cutlery clanking on the plates and it remained so, until the teal haired man broke the silence.

"Aoi, do you like any boys?" He asked her.

The brown-haired girl stopped chewing her food and dropped her spoon, tainting the clean floor. Since when was her brother interested in her love life?

A rush of adrenaline ran through her body. Akira kept staring at his sister, waiting for a response.

There was no way she could tell him that she liked Yusaku. _No way._ If she told him, then he would be more overprotective then he was right now.

"N-no. I don't like anyone." Aoi stammered.

"Good, because your priority right now is to demonstrate academic excellence. If I see one A- on that report card, then there's going to be some serious consequences." Akira said, folding his hands together, not caring that his elbows were on the table. "You don't have time for frivolous things like romance or friends."

"Yes, onii-sama." The brunette mumbled as the robot gave her a new spoon to replace the one she dropped on the ground. The rest of the dinner was silent, and as soon as both of the Zaizen siblings were done eating, Aoi ran up to her room and got her pajamas out to take a shower.

Akira's words still lingered in her mind as she rinsed her body with warm water. It bothered Aoi to the very core.

 _Your priority right now is to demonstrate academic excellence. You don't have time to frivolous things like romance or friends._

The brown haired girl wanted to scream. _Why can't you allow me to live my life as I want onii-sama?_

After using up all of the hot water, she got out and dried herself with a towel and slipped her pajamas on.

She went into her room and got onto her bed. All she wanted to do now was sleep.

Because she knew, that a long day was coming ahead of her.


	2. Chapter 2

My Beloved Angel

Chapter 2

 **Sayuri Lapis: This is an updated version of chapter 2. I found inconsistencies while rereading this so I decided to fix them. Doesn't change the story too much.**

Aoi woke up and was greeted by the bright sunshine that illuminated her room through the window glass. She sat up and yawned, stretching her arms out. She was later interrupted by a sudden loud and rude banging on the door.

"Aoi, get up! You're going to be late for school!" A familiar voice called out.

The brunette rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. Of course it was her brother, who else would bang on her door every morning rudely like that? She knew how to wake up on her own, so why did he still have to remind her?

She put on her uniform and as she was putting it on in front of the mirror, she noticed a small brown curry stain from last night's dinner on her skirt.

It wasn't too noticeable, so Aoi thought she should be ok.

She went to the door and put her shoes on, and just as she was about to open the door, Akira walked over to her.

"Where do you think you are going?" He sternly asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I'm going to school." Aoi answered politely. Where else was she going to go in the morning anyways?

"You haven't eaten breakfast yet." Akira told her. "Come to the kitchen and eat."

"I already brushed my teeth." The brown-haired girl said. "Now can you please let me go?"

"NO." Akira thundered, making Aoi shake a little.

"Come to the kitchen right now." He ordered in a hard voice, pointing to the kitchen.

 _Fine._ She thought with vengeance.

Not wanting to risk getting yelled at again, Aoi complied with his order and took her shoes off. She walked into the kitchen and saw a bowl of bran cereal with raisins drowned in white milk waiting for her on the table.

 _Blech._ Raisins weren't Aoi's specialty.

But she relished it all down with all of her dignity, including the milk and then went back upstairs to the bathroom to brush her teeth again.

Once _that_ was done with, Akira finally allowed her to leave the house and go to school. Once Aoi took a step out the door, she felt like a prisoner being released after serving a sentence. She felt like she was free. Free from her brother's wrath.

But despite that freedom, Aoi was on a mission. She didn't forget about confronting Playmaker about his identity. She took her phone out of her pocket and used an anonymous texting service to text Yusaku. She texted _Playmaker, come to Link VRAINS and duel me. Blue Angel_

She only hoped that her suspicions were confirmed on this day.

"TIME TO WAKE UP YUSAKU!" An electronic voice from the duel disk roared from the glass shelf. A boy with blue and pink hair groaned and pulled the covers over his head.

"If you don't wake up right now, you are going to be late." The voice spoke again.

"Shut up AI." The boy now named Yusaku mumbled, now putting the pillow over his head. He snuck a peak at the clock on the wall and saw it was 7:30.

If he didn't get up within the next few minutes, he was going to be late.

Yusaku sat up and yawned. He took his morning shower and put his uniform on and opened the glass compartment. He took his duel disk out that contained a ignis named AI that he and his pal Kusanagi captured and stuffed it in his bag.

After that, Yusaku sneezed. He looked around and noticed that the room felt congested and dusty, so he decided to do something about it.

The blue and pink haired boy snapped his fingers and something sped up quick to him. It was a blue robot.

"Roboppy, this room better be clean before I get home, or else." He warned the blue robot now named Roboppy, who was standing in front of him.

"Yes, master." Roboppy obeyed and grabbed the broom from the top right corner of the room.

Yusaku opened the door and left his apartment room. After locking the door with the key. He sprinted down the stairs and out of the complex.

"Any chance we are going to see that cutie today?" AI asked as they were walking past a couple of young children.

"What cutie?" Yusaku asked.

"The cutie is Aoi Zaizen. Remember meeting her?" His duel disk asked.

"Oh." Yusaku muttered. " _That_ girl."

It had been a month since he had intercepted that brown-haired girl to see if she Blue Angel.

"Yeah, I don't remember much of that."

"You forgot already? That was a month ago! Do you have short-term memory or something?" AI asked from the bag.

"No." Yusaku simply answered.

Yusaku stepped foot into the Den City High School campus and a flash of brown caught his eye.

"That's the cutie!" AI shouted excitedly.

"Shut up!" The blue and pink haired boy hissed. "Don't make me mute you."

He tried to take his eyesight away from this girl, but for some reason, his eyes were still glued to the back of her head until she walked into her classroom.

"She's gone." He mumbled and proceeded to go into his own classroom. Something warm and fuzzy was rising within his body. It was strange and quite uncomfortable for him. What was that feeling?

As Aoi settled herself at her desk, she overheard a chat between a group of made up girls on their phones.

"Guys, don't you think Playmaker is sorta cute?" A girl with bouncy black curls asked, who was applying a new coat of mascara.

"I was about to ask the same thing!" Another girl, with sleek brown hair that must have costed a fortune to have done, exclaimed.

"But what do you all think of Blue Angel?" A third girl asked.

Aoi froze when she heard her VRAINS username. The group didn't speak for a few minutes.

"Bitch." The curly haired girl said. "Never mention her name!"

"She better not be flirting with Playmaker-sama!" The second girl growled.

"That avatar of hers is soo tacky and fake! I mean, she wears too much blue! Like girl, you need to see a virtual fashion consultant." The straight haired girl commented.

"I bet she's a bitch in real life!"

Aoi took her English textbook out of her bag and pretended to be engrossed with the basic verbs that were printed on there. Since when were those prissy girls interested in Link VRAINS? Weren't they supposed to be keeping up with the latest trends and trying on different kinds of makeup? In fact, they mocked the school's Duel Club because they thought card games were for kids and "losers that don't know their place in society".

Aoi took a deep breath and prayed that their crush with Playmaker was temporary. She didn't want competition between those girls.

Eventually, school ended and Yusaku was napping, after listening to a boring class lecture about Trigonometric equations and functions.

"Hey, wake up!" A voice shouted loud and proud into his ear. Yusaku jolted in his seat and he opened his eyes.

"You finally woke up!" A short chubby boy exclaimed loudly in his ear.

"Ow…" Yusaku winced, covering his ears. "Next time, don't do that again uhh…" He tried to remember his name.

"My name is Naoki Shima." The chubby student now named Naoki spoke. "We have been classmates for more than 2 months now."

Yusaku stood up from his seat and grabbed his bag while observing the pupil. He was short and had unusual features on his face, as well as a somewhat plump figure. "Can you give me tips on how to be more popular?" Naoki asked.

Yusaku sighed. He was already annoyed by this guy and it had only been minutes. He had to get him out of his way.

"No, but I can give three reasons why you aren't so popular."

"Huh?" Naoki asked, confused.

 _Minutes later…_

"…and third, your dueling skills are beyond mediocre that even a beginner in Duel Monsters that has learned all the rules and strategies would beat you within minutes." Yusaku explained to Naoki his three reasons why he was not popular.

Naoki Shima's jaw dropped open. "Fuck you man!" He ran from Yusaku and out of the classroom. "You're not going to have any friends if you keep up that asshole attitude of yours!"

Yusaku stood where he was, a little confused. Why did Naoki get all flustered and angry all of a sudden? He only said the truth. "Was it something I said?" He asked himself.

"Of course it was something you said, dumbass!" A electronic voice piped from his bag. "You think it's polite to say to him that his dueling skills suck, he is too selfish, and he has the face of a pig? He was only trying to be your friend."

"I wasn't talking to you." Yusaku replied to his bag stoically.

"Well, I'm not going to let you get away with it. I'm going to…" Before he could finish his sentence, Yusaku took his duel disk out and pressed the mute button, muting AI.

He grabbed his cellphone out of his pocket to call Kusanagi to come pick him up until he saw a notification that he got a text message.

"Who is that from?" AI asked, being able unmuting himself.

"I don't recognize the number. It was sent this morning" Yusaku opened the message. His heart stopped after the last word of the sentence.

"Something wrong?" AI asked, sensing its master's dissonance.

"We're going into Link VRAINS." He answered quickly and snatched his bag.

He ran out of the classroom and out of the school. Yusaku looked around and once the last student exited the campus, he whipped out his deck and inserted it into the duel disk.

"Deck set. Into the VRAINS!"

Aoi Zaizen, now known under the alias as Blue Angel, was standing on the top of a cyber building in LINK VRAINS, waiting for Playmaker to come.

 _Just where is he?_ The blue haired idol thought impatiently. She didn't have time for this. She waited for a few minutes and growled. She couldn't take it anymore.

 _This was all a waste of time. What's the point of wasting even more time when he isn't going to come?_ She thought miserably. She was preparing to log herself off until she heard a familiar voice call her name.

"You called me Blue Angel?"

The blue haired girl turned around and gasped.

There he was. Playmaker. Right in front of her.

Blue Angel noticed that his body looked broader than it was on the screen and his eyes were greener too. She felt her heart race rapidly. He was so…. _beautiful._ The idol could see all the details on his suit.

"Yusaku!" She blurted out and covered her mouth only a minute after she realized what she had just said. Playmaker's eyes widened and his expression turned angry and hard. Blue Angel gasped and mentally kicked herself for being so foolish to blurt it out.

"How did you know?" He growled, gritting his teeth, taking a step closer. Blue Angel could smell his cologne.

"She got you good." AI teased, popping his head out.

"How did you know?" He asked again, ignoring the remark that AI gave him. He stared at her blue eyes menacingly.

Blue Angel shivered at those menacing green eyes that made direct contact with her. "I'm sorry. It's just that your duel disk and your eyes looked so familiar, so I made the connection between the two and I realized it." She broke down sobbing.

Playmaker's expression changed and he suddenly started to feel remorseful for being harsh on her. "I'm sorry." She apologized again. "Please forgive me Yusaku."

The pink and yellow haired man sighed. "I forgive you. Just don't tell anyone ok Aoi?"

Blue Angel stopped crying and looked at him in the eye. "You know me?"

Playmaker nodded.

It was a surprise for Blue Angel that he already knew who he was. How long had he known her? "H-How do you know me?"

"I just know." Playmaker answered quickly and put his arms around her defensively.

"What's wrong?" The blue haired girl skeptically asked, surprised by this sudden touching. It was a little arousing to her, but only minimal.

"They're here!"

Blue Angel didn't know what he meant for a moment, but then it dawned onto her. "You mean Hanoi!?"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The knights laughed from above, surfing down to where the two were, surfing around them in a circle. "We got you now, Playmaker! And there's no way out!"

"Hopefully you and your girlfriend here are looking forward to eternal sleep!" Another knight taunted.

Blue Angel's body froze. She looked around, trying to find a way out, but there was no way. Panic rose in her body. She was going to become an Another again. She couldn't imagine the look on her brother's face once he found out. The blue haired idol looked at Playmaker pleadingly.

Playmaker immediately sensed her worry. "You won't become an Another." he assured her, giving her a small smile in attempts to comfort her.

Blue Angel smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. She could only hope that he could get them out of this mess.

"AI!" The tall male shouted to his duel disk. "Dinner!"

"Just in time!" The ignis exclaimed. "I was getting hungry!"

A large dark creature appeared out of Playmaker's duel disk and extended its tentacles. "Knights of Hanoi, my favorite!"

The confident knights soon turned into wimps within seconds and they took a step back, looking very scared.

Without second thoughts, AI opened it's mouth and bit into the first knight. Within minutes, all of the knights were gobbled up by the Ignis, except for one.

Blue Angel stared, looking shocked and horrified. Who was this creature and what was it?

Not wanting to become dinner for this creature, the last knight hopped onto his board. "We'll get you next time for this!" The knight screamed angrily and surfed away.

Both teens stared as he surfed farther and farther from them, in silence.

"Even though the last one got away, I'm more than satisfied." AI burped and went back into his duel disk.

Blue Angel breathed, feeling relieved. She looked up at Playmaker and wished that she could give him a big kiss on the lips as a thank you but she figured that he wouldn't like it.

Playmaker looked down at her and smiled. Their eyes met and they exchanged looks for a few moments until Playmaker looked away.

"I have to get going now."

Blue Angel pouted. She wished she could spend more time with him, even if it was just a little minute, but she understood. Playmaker had more important things to do right now.

And so, he leaped off the building and hopped onto his board, surfing through Link VRAINS to save many avatars. Blue Angel logged off and begun to ran home.

Her confrontation with Playmaker, also known as Yusaku, ended on good terms. Aoi was proud that her mission was accomplished. As long as she didn't tell anyone, then everything was fine. She felt like she could conquer the world.

At least until she got home.

When she opened the door to her house, Aoi noticed that neither her brother or the household robot were at the door. It was awkward for her, so she tip toed into the living room as quietly as she could until someone cleared their voice.

"I see you." A familiar voice icily spoke.

Aoi froze and turned around slowly. She saw her older brother Akira sitting upward on the sofa, his purple eyes bulging and his cheeks were red.

Aoi swallowed nervously. She knew that look. She saw that look on his face yesterday when he scolded her for going onto Link VRAINS.

"I-Is there something wrong onii-sama?" Aoi nervously asked.

"You're late. _Very_ late." Akira nodded towards the clock that hung above the entrance.

Aoi directed her attention to the wall and read the time. It was 8:00. Aoi's curfew was set at 7:00.

The brunette swallowed nervously and directed her attention back to her brother.

Akira stood up and put his hands on his hips. "You have some explaining to do young lady."


	3. Chapter 3

My Beloved Angel

Chapter 3

 **Sayuri Lapis: Thank you all who reviewed, especially Lucadina and Hamm Ram. Your reviews are very encouraging.**

"Aoi, where were you that caused you to come home late?" Akira asked, trying to stay firm with his sister-in-law.

Aoi did not respond. She could only gaze down at the transparent coffee table, making out the small right triangles carved into the glass.

"Aoi, where were you?" Akira asked again, sounding slightly angrier than the last sentence. He was trying to remain calm after worrying about where she had been in the last hour.

"I was with friends." The brown-haired girl lied through her teeth. She didn't even try to direct her brown eyes at him.

"Friends? Since when did you make new friends?"

The brown-haired girl opened her mouth but no words came out. The lie had failed.

 _Can you just excuse me to my room already?_ She thought, annoyed. _This whole conversation is pointless and a waste of my time and yours!_

"You're lying to me Aoi. Where have you been?" Akira gritted his teeth. He was reaching his limit and he was ready to unleash his inner beast out at her. He then let out a small gasp.

"Did you log into Link VRAINS and get caught up within the Knights of Hanoi?"

Aoi's shoulders stiffened when he made that statement. He found out.

Now he was going to erase her account.

"I am going to check the login history and If I see your name, I will delete your account." He stood up and went upstairs. Aoi was still sitting on the couch, trembling. All she wanted to do right now was make herself disappear. She couldn't afford to lose her account. Her fans would be let down big time. She wouldn't be able to interact with Playmaker anymore.

Akira came stomping down a few minutes later, holding his work laptop. He sat himself down on the plush velvety couch and his eyes were focused on the screen.

 _Aoi may get mad at me later, but this is for her own good. She needs to be punished in order to learn._ He thought as he scanned the list of usernames that were active for the last hour, but for some reason, Blue Angel's name wasn't on there. He checked the other hour lists to see if her name was there, but it wasn't there either.

He then came down to the conclusion that she did not log into Link VRAINS today, much to his relief, and unknowingly, to Aoi's too.

"Nii-sama?" Aoi asked. "Is everything ok?"

"You know what Aoi, forget about this whole argument." Akira shut off his laptop. "But don't be late ever again."

But the brown-haired girl wasn't convinced. Her brown eyes hardened and she glared at her brother. "So you got all mad at me for nothing." She fumed.

"Aoi, I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it. I'm 16 years old now!" Aoi complained, walking up to the window. "You deprived me of a normal social life and confined me to this house, ordering me to study and do your bidding so I wouldn't put your position at risk!"

"Aoi, please stop…"

"I'm not going to stop! Your work is difficult, causing you to come home grouchy and using me as your personal punching bag! I'm sick you punching and pushing me around!"

"ENOUGH!" Akira roared.

Aoi continued to ignore him. "One day, I'll become a grown-up woman and you will lose any control you currently have over me."

"No I won't." Akira hissed, walking over to his step-sister. "You haven't seen what the real world is like. You will only leave once you understand how hard life is."

Aoi glared at her older brother, but she didn't want to argue with him anymore. She felt like she was going to throw up her lunch she had earlier. When was her older brother ever going to acknowledge that she was almost an adult? Was she going to have to argue with him until she couldn't speak anymore?

Neither talked to each other for the next two minutes, only glaring at each other's irises. "I don't want to argue about this anymore." Aoi finally took her attention away from him and sighed. She softened her fists and began to take some back steps before turning around. In silence, she walked to her room and slammed the door shut, locking it. Akira sighed and scratched his head. He had no idea on what to do with his little sister.

Aoi stood lying against the door, still in place. Tears spilled out of her eyes and she ran to her bed, crying into her pillow.

 _What does it take for me to earn my freedom without making onii-sama upset?_

Yusaku Fujiki was walking to his apartment complex when his AI started to bother him.

"Are you and Aoi in love?"

"Isn't Blue Angel cute?"

"Isn't her Trickstar deck totally structured well?"

"Stop talking." The blue and pink haired boy hissed as he unlocked his room.

"Welcome home master." Roboppy greeted as Yusaku walked in. Yusaku ignored the blue robot and stepped aside. He threw his backpack on the bed.

"Aoi-chan will thank you later when she finds out that you erased her name off the log. Especially since her brother forbids her from Link VRAINS." AI noted to its master.

Yusaku ignored the artificial lifeform and placed his duel disk in the shelf and closed the glass doors that were attached to the compartment. He went into his immaculate bathroom, courtesy of Roboppy, and took his clothes off.

As the steaming hot water was rolling, Yusaku made sure that he got every inch of his body clean. Just because he lived in a shabby apartment, that didn't mean he smelled like a hobo.

After his long and destressing shower, he was greeted my loud moans that could be heard from under his bed. Yusaku rolled his eyes; he knew what was going on, but he didn't bother to intrude.

What went on between Roboppy and AI was none of his business. If he and Aoi were to ever do it, he wouldn't want the ignis to watch them get it on.

Yusaku stopped in his tracks. _Me and Aoi? Having sex? Impossible!_

Why the hell was Aoi on his mind all of a sudden? He shook his head and lied down on his bed. He only did a favor for her earlier in Link VRAINS and after, by deleting her name off of the login history. He knew about her overprotective brother. Sure, he was shocked when Blue Angel told his real name out loud, but luckily, no one was around to hear.

If anyone was there, it would have erupted into a huge scandal and he would never be able to hear the end of it.

He shouldn't have been surprised, because it was only going to be time that she found out. He knew her real identity before she knew him.

His mind then wandered to Aoi's persona. Her straight hair looked perfect and her eyes looked so clear and bright, like a doll.

Her body wasn't so bad either. Ok, maybe her chest wasn't like the other girls, but who cares?

While being lost in his thoughts, Yusaku's phone suddenly started to vibrate in his pocket.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Oi, it's me." A voice only familiar to Yusaku spoke on the phone.

"Hey."

It was Shoichi Kusanagi.

"I need you to help me with the hot dogs. There's a line of customers at my truck, even though its nighttime." The man now named Kusanagi spoke into the phone.

"Sure." Yusaku sighed reluctantly and looked outside. It was dark. "I'll be there in a few minutes. Where are you at?"

"I'm in central Den City." Kusanagi replied onto the phone.

He sat up on his bed and yawned. Truthfully, he didn't feel like flipping hotdogs with one of his few companions, but he and Shoichi had known each other for a long time and Yusaku didn't want to leave his friend out to dry.

"Aoi, are you done bawling?" Akira knocked on her bedroom door. It wasn't one of those loud knocks that he did in the morning, but it was still hearable.

"Leave me alone!" Aoi muffled into her now-soaked pillow. An hour had passed since their argument happened.

"Aoi, you have to study for your upcoming exam!" Akira knocked again.

To hell with exams. It was like school was her breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

"Aoi, please don't cry." Akira pleaded. "It makes me upset to see you in this state."

Aoi stopped crying and raised her head from her pillow. Akira never had spoken to her like this in a long time. The last time he had spoken to her gently was 10 years ago, back when they had lost their parents in a tragic accident.

Could it be that he finally realized his wrongdoing? A

"You're 16 years old now. Crying is for young children. You're an adult. Companies don't tolerate crying employees."

A sour taste appeared in Aoi's mouth. It was apparent that Akira hadn't changed, one single bit.

As if the last straw broke the camel's back, Aoi sat up, her eyes swollen red and her expression looked like she was furious. How could he? She got off her bed and stomped to the door.

The brunette opened the door and saw her brother standing there. "Why don't you study for my exam and take it in my place if you care so much about your damn reputation!" She yelled mindlessly.

"Aoi, you know I can't do that." Akira sighed and grabbed her arm. "Come on, let's go downstairs and study together. I have your textbooks out on the table."

"No!" Aoi ripped her arm from Akira's grasp and gave him the same glare she did an hour earlier. "I'm going out for a while."

"Aoi, no!" Akira shouted after her. "It's too late for you to go outside!"

But Akira's plea fell on deaf ears and Aoi was in the elevator by the time he said it.

"AOI! YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW, THIS INSTANT!"

But for the very first time, Aoi dismissed Akira's order to stop and she just kept going.


	4. Chapter 4

My Beloved Angel

Chapter 4

"Order #43 up!" Shoichi called out to the line. "Anyone ordered a hotdog topped with mustard and pickle relish?"

Yusaku was in the kitchen grilling the last hot dog. He briefly turned around and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Grilling hotdogs was a lot of work, especially tonight, when most of the crowd were in the center of the city, watching a duel between Go Onizuka and a member of the Knights of Hanoi.

"I can't do this anymore!" Yusaku complained as he walked up to Shoichi.

"You can relax now." His friend said, examining the thick wad of bills he received from the customers. "We made a lot tonight. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to handle the long line."

He then handed Yusaku 3 bills. "Go treat yourself." Shoichi smiled down at his long-time friend. "You worked hard and earned it."

Yusaku was dumbfounded for a few moments, but he nodded and exited the Café Nagi van.

Aoi was running as fast as the wind, passing the apartment complexes and the streetlights that lit up the dull streets. She wanted to be far from her apartment and her brother as much as possible. How dare her brother put studying and his position above her? It seemed like he valued work more than her.

She finally stopped running when she realized she was among a crowd of people that were directing their cheering at the large plasma screen that hung upon a building.

"Onizuka is so awesome!" A voice that Aoi confirmed was Naoki Shima's cheered. It sounded obnoxious enough, like an obsessive nerdy fanboy.

The brunette exited the crowd moments later, covering her ears and sought refugee behind a van. She bent down and took a deep breath.

 _Finally_. _Some peace and quiet._

Akira was in the kitchen, sitting on the chair with a table full of textbooks in front of him.

He was thinking if he was being too harsh on Aoi. Maybe he was. Maybe he should be more lenient on her and let her enjoy the simple pleasures that other students her age have right now.

 _No. Aoi should do what's best for her. If she makes friends right now, they'll only distract her._ Akira put his hands on both sides of his hips. He needed Aoi at home, right _now_. In his presence.

He fished for his phone and dialed a number that only few employees knew. He listened to the ringing until someone picked up on the other end.

"Hello?" A feminine voice answered the call.

"Hey, it's me." Akira spoke gruffly into the phone. "I need you to do a favor for me."

"Alright, anything for you." The feminine voice spoke again. This time, her voice was sugary sweet, like syrup dripping off a maple tree.

Yusaku was among the crowd, watching the large screen like everyone else was, only he wasn't cheering along with them.

He didn't get the appeal of charisma duelists like Go Onizuka. Well, Blue Angel was an exception. In Yusaku's opinion, she displayed a great example of how charisma duelists should be. Not too flashy and obnoxious.

Blue Angel didn't battle the Knights of Hanoi in Playmaker's place for fame and attention. She only did what she wanted for her own fans.

As Yusaku was distracted into his thoughts, the crowd was cheering louder than before.

"Sheesh." Kusanagi muttered, gluing his eyes to the screen. "The crowd must really love this guy."

"Of course. He's Go Onizuka, one of the most famous charisma duelists!" Ai told Shoichi.

"That explains a lot." The purple-haired man wiped the counter with a disinfectant wipe.

Ai rolled its eyes. Sometimes, the artificial lifeform wondered how Yusaku knew a guy who was clueless outside of his job of grilling hotdogs.

"Oh Aoi…" A female woman with lilac colored hair cooed into the crowd. "Come out come out where ever you are. I know you're here somewhere. Akira wants you to come back home."

She searched throughout the crowd, albeit a few leery eyes from perverted boys that stared at her chest.

"Fuck off." She venomously hissed at them. Some of them gulped and turned away quickly while the rest apologized and promised to never stare suggestively at her ever again.

As Emma was searching the crowd, Aoi was still residing behind the van.

 _C-Cold…._ she thought, shivering. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to run away from her brother this late.

As goosebumps were manifesting on the brown-haired girl's thighs, A shadow walked right into her, causing her to yelp in surprise. Her heartbeat accelerated. Was this shadow a kidnapper?

"Aoi?" Yusaku asked. "What are you doing here?"

Aoi's heartbeat slowed immediately. She was relived it wasn't some creepy stranger.

 _Oh, it's Yusaku._ She thought. While he was here, Aoi thought she should engage in some light talking. But first, she had to answer Yusaku's question.

"I don't know why I'm hiding here actually." Aoi replied, standing up and wiping some non-existent dust off of her skirt and thighs. "I ran out of my house."

"And why…?" Yusaku raised an eyebrow.

"Because I got into a stupid argument with my onii-sama about my curfew and studying." She could feel her cheeks flush the color of blood roses. It was embarrassing to reveal her personal family matters to someone that didn't know her too well.

"I see." Yusaku murmured while keeping his attention at Aoi.

They stared at each other for what seemed like infinity until Aoi broke the silence.

"I have to go back home now." She yawned.

"Do you want a ride? I can have Shoichi drive you there." Yusaku suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea." The brunette agreed.

Yusaku's heart fluttered a bit, but he still kept his cool. He was happy, almost giddy that she accepted his offer to take her home.

"Come on." He gestured her and took her hand, clasping it tightly.

Aoi's face flushed again, although not as much. Yusaku's hand was warm, not all sweaty and clammy, like a certain someone. She followed Yusaku to the Café Nagi truck and Yusaku explained to Shoichi that she had to get home, and within seconds, the café closed down for the night and engine was rolling.

As Shoichi was driving the van, Aoi and Yusaku sat next to each other, not looking in the eye.

Yusaku didn't imagine that it was going to be like this. He wanted to continue the conversation they had earlier, but it was hard, especially since the bothersome ignis was present between them.

And speaking of the ignis, Ai wouldn't shut up. He kept blabbering incoherent nonsense, which was putting both Yusaku and Aoi on the edge.

While they were sitting, Yusaku decided to engage in another conversation. He noticed that Aoi was looking out at the stars that lit up the night sky.

"Nice night we are having huh?" The blue and pink-haired boy blurted without much thought.

Aoi turned head around. Did Yusaku seriously ask that?

"Yeah." She finally answered. Come to think of it, the stars did look pretty.

Yusaku slumped in his seat. Aoi must think he's an idiot, and Yusaku did not want anyone to think that he was an idiot because he wasn't one.

The van then hit a bump, causing Yusaku and Aoi to jump. Aoi, who was close to Yusaku, fell over on Yusaku's lap, hitting her chin on the seat.

"Ow."

"Are you alright?" Yusaku asked.

"Yeah." Aoi replied, she positioned herself back up. Her chin was a little sore now.

The two did not speak for the rest of the ride, until the van stopped over to a fancy apartment.

"Is this your house Aoi-chan?" asked Ai.

"Yeah." Aoi nodded.

"Is that cutie's apartment? Looks much better than Yusaku's house, which is just a pitiful shack with no expression or modernity."

"How many times must I tell you to keep quiet?" Yusaku hissed angrily.

Ai was used to Yusaku's anger at this point, so it wasted no time in nettling its master.

Aoi left the van and glanced for one last time. She gave a small smile and ran to her apartment.

"She smiled at you!" Ai told Yusaku.

As the elevator was carrying her upwards, Aoi replayed the awkward moment she and Yusaku shared in the van. She didn't do it on purpose. It was purely an accident.

Was she going to see Yusaku again tomorrow?

She hoped that she got the chance to. It would be a shame if she couldn't. She had to apologize after all.

When the elevator dinged, the doors opened and Aoi stepped right into the living room.

She saw Akira looking right at her.

"Onii-sama, I'm so sorry…." She paused when she saw her brother shaking so hard.

 _I'm going to get it._ She thought, squeezing her eyelids shut.

"Aoi, just go to sleep." Akira finally said. "I'm sorry for yelling at you and being so harsh."

Wait, did her brother just apologize to her?

"Onii-sama, do you really mean it?" Aoi asked, hoping that was true.

The teal-haired man nodded. "Aoi, just be yourself from now on ok?"

Aoi happily replied, "Yes!"

She went to bed that night satisfied. She could finally have friends. No more tiresome and gruesome nights of difficult and useless studying.

But could she interact with boys?

She was too tired to ask that question to Akira. At this point, her legs were jelly, so Aoi decided to relax in her bed. She could feel her whole body sink within the soft fluffy mattress.

The brunette could ask him tomorrow morning about it.


	5. Chapter 5

My Beloved Angel

Chapter 5

 **Sayuri Lapis: Chapter 5 is up! Enjoy!**

"Aoi and Yusaku sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes the love, second comes the marriage, third comes the baby in the baby-."

"Will you shut up?" Yusaku hissed at the glass compartment. It was clear that he wasn't amused by that little song that the ignis was singing.

"Phooey. You're no fun" AI pouted.

"Life isn't fun." Yusaku told him and lied down on his hard mattress. "Especially when I have revenge I need to grab."

"Haven't you ever thought about giving up on your quest for revenge?" asked AI. "I mean, the lost incident was 10 years ago. Dr. Kogami, the mastermind behind that, is dead. How can you get revenge on a dead person?"

"I can get revenge from Revolver. He is the leader behind that scumbag organization."

AI rolled its eyes. It couldn't stand hearing anymore nonsense about his revenge, so it decided to change the subject back to Aoi.

"Hey, Aoi hasn't thanked you for erasing her name off yet. Have you even told her?"

Yusaku snuggled in his bed and gave AI a death stare. He didn't feel like talking further.

"Fine!" grumbled the ignis and closed its eye, just in case his owner threatened to do something to him.

In the meantime, Emma was back at home.

"So Aoi came home?" Emma asked into the phone, lying down on the sofa, wearing a big shirt. She was talking to Akira Zaizen.

"Yeah. I'll still pay you in attempts for trying to find her."

"Good, because you know I don't like it when I don't get paid for a job, especially from someone like you." Emma fake-laughed, throwing her legs in the air, exposing her thighs. She usually never fake-laughed, unless one of her male coworkers made a bad joke and he expected everyone to laugh at it.

"I'll pay you 200 grand." Akira suggested.

"Sounds good!" Emma sang. "Goodnight."

She ended the call and her phone slipped out of her hand and onto the plush carpet.

"Hmm…. why did Aoi run from home in the first place?" She asked herself.

Was it because she was reaching the stage of teenage rebellion? Or was it because of something else entirely?

Whatever it was, it wasn't Emma's business. That was something between Akira and his little sister. She didn't need to meddle in family affairs. That was the last thing she needed to do.

The lilac-haired woman sat up and sighed. "I need to take a shower. After all, a woman needs to smell good for a man."

As she was showering, she kept thinking about Akira, with only one question.

 _Should Akira good be a good man to invest into for a relationship?_

The next morning came by faster than anyone could expect.

"Good Morning." Akira greeted his sister as she walked down the stairs.

"Morning." Aoi greeted back, giving her brother a bright smile.

It must have been ages for Aoi to give a smile at Akira, because he went up to her and enveloped her into a big bear hug.

"Onii-sama, I think that's enough." The brunette gasped for air.

"I love you Aoi."

"I love you too, but you don't need to go overboard with the affection." She pulled apart from her brother and looked at him in the eye. "There's a question that I wanted to ask you last night, but I was too tired."

"Ask me anything Aoi." Akira told his sister.

"Can I fall in love with someone?" She asked.

Akira stood there, speechless. Should she fall in love with a boy?

There were pros and cons to this:

On one hand, Aoi would get some socialization and maybe make a friend. The boy could even become her husband one day in the future.

But on the other hand, what if they had unprotected sex together? Unprotected sex could result in an unwanted pregnancy and Aoi would have to dedicate most of her time taking care of the baby. And what if they boy left her?

"I need to think about this Aoi." Akira finally answered. "It's sort of complicated."

"Alright." The brunette sighed and walked to the table to eat breakfast. So much for asking.

After eating breakfast and completing her routine, she was ready to go out.

Before she stepped out however, Akira stopped her.

"Have a good day at school. Be sure to make new friends." He smiled at her.

Aoi nodded. "I will onii-sama!"

And off she was.

As Aoi was running off, she noticed Yusaku walking, so she slowed down until she was walking next to him at the same pace.

Yusaku seemed to be distracted, as he didn't seem to notice that she was next to him, so Aoi decided to greet him like any other normal human being would in the morning.

"Morning!" Aoi greeted.

"Huh?" Yusaku snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the person next to him.

"Oh, morning." He mumbled.

Aoi's heart fluttered a little. _He looked at me!_

"It's the cutie!" AI whisper-squealed from the duel disk that currently resided in his bag.

Yusaku ignored the voice and silently prayed it would not speak anymore to attract unwanted attention. That was the last thing he wanted in the morning.

The two continued to walk to the school campus until they were both spotted by, as you can guess.

"MORNING!" Naoki thundered loudly, causing some students to cringe and walk into the school as quickly as possible. Nobody wanted to be around Mr. Loudmouth early in the morning, hearing him discuss the new banlist for the cards or the latest deck that was going to come out into retail stores.

He then noticed Yusaku and Aoi walking into the school's property and a big goofy grin erupted on his face. "Isn't it a little early for the romantic stuff?" He asked them.

"We're not a couple." Yusaku firmly replied. "So stop making stupid assumptions."

Aoi secretly agreed for a second, but it crushed her after that second ended. Did Yusaku not have feelings for her? She hoped that this wasn't the case and that he was only saying it as a fluke to shoo Naoki away.

She shook her head and tried to get that negative thought out of her mind. Yusaku wasn't the kind that interacted with the other boys or played any sports like the jocks did. The only friend he had was that creature that dwelled inside his duel disk.

So it made sense that Yusaku never had interest in a relationship. Aoi even wondered what Yusaku hobbies were.

"That's too bad. You two would make an adorable couple." Naoki continued, despite Yusaku telling him moments earlier to stop making false assumptions.

 _Me and Yusaku, an adorable couple?_ Aoi thought. No one ever told her that before. She imagined what they would do as a couple together. They would go on dates, spend some time at each other's house, and so much more.

Yusaku settled down in his seat and yawned.

"It hasn't been even a full minute and you're yawning." AI whisper-scolded from his bag.

Yusaku put his hand into the bag and muted his duel disk. He then looked back up to the front of the classroom. He noticed a student standing in front of the chalkboard.

He wore the Den City High School uniform and he had white hair with orange streaks. His eyes were purple.

Had Yusaku seen that student before? He never looked at his peers often and it was pointless for him to think about it.

The teacher soon came into the classroom and stood next to the student.

"This is Takeru Homura. He will be joining our class starting today." She announced.


	6. Chapter 6

My Beloved Angel

Chapter 6

 **Sayuri Lapis: Chapter six is up. Future installments should be coming more often now!**

"Introduce yourself." The teacher nodded at the new student.

The orange and white-haired boy now named Takeru took a deep breath. "My name is Takeru Homura. I'm pleased to be in the same class as you all and I hope we can become great friends."

He took off to an empty desk that was next to Yusaku's before the teacher could instruct him to. As Takeru was settling in his seat, he took a good look and Yusaku.

"Hey." He smiled.

Yusaku looked back at him, but not with a smile. Should he say something?

He then decided to ignore him, but Takeru gave him a poke. A playful poke specifically, indicating that he wanted to interact with him. "Wanna eat lunch together?" He asked.

"Sure." He whispered back, unaware of the words that came out of his mouth. He only realized it moments later that he accepted the request. Yusaku wanted to kick himself for accepting it. He was a _loner_.

His mind then wandered to Aoi Zaizen and then it led to the small discussion with Naoki from this morning, mistaking both of them for a couple. He saw the look on her face when he had said that. She almost looked crushed.

Guilt washed over Yusaku's body. Why did he have to say that?

It wasn't true, but it wasn't exactly false.

He had to admit, Aoi was pretty cute. She didn't put on chemicals on her face like all the other girls did and act like bitches by talking behind others backs.

Why was love such a fickle thing?

He then steered his attention to the front of the classroom, where the teacher was writing down a bunch of algorithms for students to solve. A little math should help him get this mess off of his mind for at least a little while.

Lunchtime had come sooner than expected, and most of the students were outside, eating their lunch, except for Aoi, who was still in the classroom.

It sucked to be lonely, but she couldn't muster the courage to go out and sit outside with the other girls. Especially those prissy ones. She wasn't into fashion or makeup like them.

But being in the classroom all by herself was unbearable, so she stood up and took her lunch with her to sit with the other girls outside. Not that she was going to engage into conversation with them anyway. She was just going to sit down by herself and enjoy the gorgeous weather that Mother Nature provided today.

As she was on her way to outside, she bumped into someone and her lunch fell to the ground, spilling all the contents out of the container.

She stared at her now inedible lunch in disappointment. Oh well, she wasn't going to eat today anyway.

"Are you alright?" A voice asked from above.

"I'm fine." She looked up and saw a student that she had never saw before.

"Sorry for wasting your lunch." He apologized. "Want to come eat with me and another guy? I can share my lunch. I packed more than I needed to."

"Sure." Aoi mused quietly. Almost no one asked her to eat lunch with them, so it was a nice change for her.

She looked at the boy intently and he gave her a puzzled look in return. Had she seen this guy before?

"Is there something wrong?" The boy asked her. "Is it my hair?"

"I don't think I've seen you around here before. What's your name?" The brunette asked. Maybe the intent stare was a bit much.

"Oh, my name is Takeru Homura. I'm quite new around here." He chuckled lightly and ran his hand through his hair. "What's your name."

"Aoi Zaizen." She quietly replied.

"Nice to meet you Aoi. Now let's go and eat! I'm starving!" Takeru smiled.

Aoi followed Takeru out into the courtyard, amid the stares she got from the other students and was seated with Takeru.

"Here." He gave her a bento lunch.

"Isn't this a little bit too much?" Aoi had asked. Surely, she couldn't accept this bento. It looked so neat and too pretty to eat. She couldn't even make a bento lunch herself, despite being a female. Weren't girls supposed to make bentos for the boys, and not the other way around?

"But this looks so nice. I just can't accept it like that." She gave the container back to Takeru.

"Don't worry about it. You need to eat." Takeru smiled, his purplish eyes glinting a little.

"Tsk Tsk!" An unfamiliar voice shouted from where Takeru was sitting, making Aoi jolt.

"Flame!" Takeru glared at his duel disk.

Aoi tilted her head in confusion. Takeru was a duelist too?

"What?" An orange creature slowly rose from the duel disk. "I didn't say anything!"

"I know what you mean by tsk tsk!" Takeru frowned. "Don't scare this girl Flame."

"I wasn't scaring her or anything." The orange creature now named Flame huffed and took a good look at Aoi. Aoi scooched over a little in fear. Yusaku had a creature like that. She had only seen it once in Link VRAINS, when Playmaker ordered him to munch on the Knights of Hanoi members.

"Flame won't hurt you. He's just a little pompous." Takeru assured her.

Yusaku Fujiki was back in the classroom, getting ready to grab his lunch after his teacher gave him a hard scolding for snoozing during the lesson. To be fair, advanced pre-calculus was no fun and it was like learning a foreign language that only the geeks knowledgeable in that subject would know.

He really didn't feel like eating lunch with that new student. It was a big mistake for him to accept his request.

Why couldn't he say no? Was it that hard to just say it?

Yusaku sighed and grabbed his duel disk without thinking. He eventually strolled to the courtyard and saw the new student, sitting with…..Aoi Zaizen?

 _Intermission….._

At SOL Technologies, Emma was sitting at her desk, humming happily while typing up a report about the software glitches that she gathered from Link VRAINS. She had to send it to her upperclassmen or else she would lose her job.

"Done!" She squealed, printing the papers and faxed them to send to her upper-class bosses. As she was strolling down the halls, she passed by Akira's office and decided to take a sneak peak at what he's doing.

Emma noticed that he was gazing intently at his computer, his fingers typing furiously on they keyboard. After a minute, he stopped typing and sighed.

The lilac-haired woman opened the door and giggled. Akira noticed her come in and a small smile appeared on his face.

"Hello." She greeted in a sing-song voice and pulled up a chair so she could sit next to him.

"Hi." Akira mumbled in a tired voice. Emma could tell that he was exhausted.

"Want me to give you a massage?" The lilac-haired woman offered and rolled up the sleeves of her jacket. "You look like you could really use one right now."

"Just what I need." Akira sighed and leaned down on his desk.

"The bosses sure are demanding and bossy, aren't they?" Emma sighed as her hands slithered on his back.

Akira grumbled gibberish that sounded akin to the word, "yes". He closed his eyes and felt Emma's cool smooth hands explore his bare back. It felt like heavenly bliss to him.

Emma was, unknowingly to Akira's knowledge, enjoying this too. His back was as smooth as a brand-new sheet of paper. If only things like this happened more often.

Back at the schoolyard, Yusaku was sitting in between Takeru and Aoi, eating his lunch, not opening his mouth.

"Why don't you ask Aoi to feed you?" AI whisper-teased from the duel disk.

"Huh?" Takeru looked at Yusaku. "Did you say something?"

"No." Yusaku replied as collectedly as possible. It was a big mistake to bring that duel disk. That stupid AI was going to speak and ruin everything.

Yusaku's discomfort wasn't only because of that. He looked over at Aoi, who was eating her lunch daintily, popping the onigiri into her mouth. She chewed it gently without haste.

He was sitting next to the girl that he liked. He didn't have any experience with girls, unlike the other guys in his class. The only experience he had with girls was when Kusanagi lamented on his high school days when he hung out with them.

"So…." Takeru spoke, breaking the silence that was surrounding the three of them. "I was thinking we could all go out together and explore the town. I don't know anything about Den City."

"I don't know…." Aoi trailed off and looked at Yusaku. Should she go?

"Actually, I was thinking we could go into Link VRAINS." Yusaku answered.

"Link VRAINS? Oh yeah!" A big grin erupted on Homura's face. "We could all see what we look like. Should we do it after school?"

"Yeah." A small smile appeared on Yusaku's face.

Aoi's heart thumped, if Yusaku was going to enter into Link VRAINS, she could see him as Playmaker again.

Sure, going into Link VRAINS wasn't a bad idea, aside from seeing Playmaker, but she just wasn't up to it today.

But boys were boys. She can't change Yusaku and Takeru.

"Actually, I can't come." The brunette blurted.

Yusaku and Takeru then turned their attention to her.

"Why not?" Yusaku asked. He excitement was starting to go downhill. Aoi wasn't coming? Why?

"Because…." Aoi trailed off, trying to think of an excuse to convince them.

"Is it still because of your brother?" AI butted in, peeking out of Yusaku's duel disk.

"No actually." Aoi replied, being took back from that creature speaking. What was the species of that creature called again?

"You have an Ignis too?" Takeru asked, looking a little excited.

Yusaku tried to push that ignis back into his duel disk, but the damage had been done.

"I thought I was the only one!" Takeru grinned, showing Yusaku his duel disk. Flame rose out of his disk and looked Yusaku.

"It's you again, isn't it?" The creature spoke in disdain.

"Who are you calling pathetic?" AI asked, sounding clearly offended by what Flame had said to him.

"I haven't missed you."

"I haven't missed you either."

As the two ignises were bickering at each other, Takeru gave Yusaku a apologetic look that said, _I'm sorry. He's usually not like that._

To Yusaku, it was surprising that both of these artificial lifeforms knew each other. Maybe AI could pester that other ignis.

As the trio were finishing their lunches, the bell rang to remind students that their lunch break was over and classes were back in session.

"Are you still coming Aoi?" Yusaku asked, placing his hand on her shoulder. He looked a little upset when Aoi told them that she had no intention on going.

"Actually, I want to go. Forget my decline that I said earlier." Aoi turned around and faced Yusaku, looking at his green eyes. "Don't cancel anything. I'll see you and Takeru after school."

"See ya." Yusaku waved as she disappeared into the crowd.

After school today was going to be great.


	7. Chapter 7

My Beloved Angel

Chapter 7

 **Sayuri Lapis: Sorry if you all were waiting for this chapter, but if you read Summer Crush, you'll know why.**

After school came sooner than the trio had expected, and when they had logged onto Link VRAINS, it was crowded. Like, really crowded. It seemed that the entire planet Earth had the same idea as them.

"It sure is crowded today." Aoi, now under the alias of Blue Angel, observed. There were groups of people wandering around.

"Yeah, it is." Yusaku, now under the alias as Playmaker agreed. He was standing next to Blue Angel.

"We don't have to duel you know." A flame attired avatar stood next to Playmaker.

"Then what can we do Soulburner?" Blue Angel asked. She didn't want to stand up here all day, doing nothing.

The flame attired avatar now named Soulburner blushed a little. "Actually, I'm a little hungry." He confessed.

"But you just had a whole lunch earlier!" The blue haired idol noted.

"Takeru's stomach never gets full." Flame explained, popping out of the duel disk. "You could take him to the largest all-you-can-eat buffet in the world and he'd still want to go to another one!"

"Stop it Flame." Soulburner's cheeks were burning red. As embarrassing as it was, it was the truth. He couldn't do anything about Flame's taunting. The fire Ignis's teasing was the worst.

"Let's go to a nearby cafe then if Soulburner's hungry." Playmaker suggested.

Blue Angel and Soulburner nodded in agreement.

As they traveled to the nearest cafe, The three had run into Ghost Girl.

"Hi there." Ghost Girl sugarly greeted.

"Who is she?" Soulburner asked the two.

"Dunno." Playmaker sighed.

"Hey Ghost Girl." Blue Angel greeted.

"At least someone here recognizes me!" Ghost Girl did a wink. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine." The blue-haired idol replied.

The purple and gray-haired woman took another look at Playmaker and Soulburner and looked back to Blue Angel. She had a childish smile on her face.

"Are one of these boys your boyfriend?" She whispered gleefully in her ear. The expression on her face looked like a child that had just stolen something that he shouldn't have taken.

Blue Angel's face brightened red with embarrassment. She couldn't answer that right in front of those two. What if they judged her?

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Ghost Girl told her. "But I'm totally certain that one of them l-i-k-e-s you!" She spelled out the word like.

"Y-You think so?" The blue-haired girl stammered.

"I'm never wrong when it comes to love." The older woman winked and then performed a high jump. "I'll see you around!"

Within seconds, Ghost Girl had vanished and Blue Angel was just standing there, dumbfounded.

She didn't know what to do.

Did one of those boys really like her?

Was it the cool and calm Yusaku AKA Playmaker?

Or the so far nerdy but cute Takeru, AKA Soulburner?

Blue Angel sighed. It had only been a minute that she was thinking about it but it felt like her head was seriously going to split apart.

"Oi, are you ok Blue Angel?" Soulburner asked.

Blue Angel snapped out of her thoughts and turned to face the two teenage boys.

"Sorry about that. It's nothing. Let's go and eat." She put on one of her signature smiles to convince them both with a wink added for extra credit.

"She's cute…." Soulburner muttered quietly, but loud enough that Playmaker heard it.

Even though you couldn't decipher Playmaker's emotions by his, you could tell by his body language on how he was feeling, and in that moment, he was feeling rage. His hands were balled into fists and he was noticeably shaking.

Soulburner had only known Blue Angel for less than 24 hours and he suddenly had a crush on her.

Those were his words! Why couldn't he have said it earlier?

Why did he have to be such a reserved and shy boy?

"Are you jealous Playmaker-sama?" A sickishingly familiar taunting voice spoke from his duel disk.

" _Shut up!_ " The hero had clamped the creature back into his duel disk.

He wanted to go to the café _now_.

When the trio arrived to the nearby café, they sat at the nearest table, waiting for their waiter to come and take their orders.

When one finally arrived, it was a woman. She had worn a scantily clad outfit with fishnet stockings and had a special interest for Playmaker.

Blue Angel pouted. It was clear that this waitress was making fun of her and that she didn't have a liking either.

"I'd like a hotdog with a tall glass of water." Playmaker requested.

"And you?" The waitress directed her attention to Blue Angel. Even though her eyes looked cute and enthusiastic, they looked stormy, which scared the blue-haired idol.

"Just a glass of water." Blue Angel replied.

"Are you sure you don't want the nacho cheese dinner? Or the triple deluxe cheesecake? Or that three foot tall hamburger?" She asked sweetly. "They are popular with the Link VRAINS celebrities."

"No." Blue Angel firmly replied. No way was she going to load up on the fat. She had to keep her image perfectly in order to keep her fans.

"Fine." She then took Soulburner's order.

After they all had made their orders, the waitress went away to get their orders ready, leaving the three of them in an awkward silence.

As they were waiting for their orders, two average-sized penguins waddled up to their table, much to their surprise.

"Are you really the Blue Angel that we see on TV?" The red penguin asked.

"Can we get your autograph?" The blue penguin asked.

Blue Angel sweated. These penguins were creeps.

"Leave." Playmaker stormed, glaring at them.

"EEEKKK!" the two penguins jumped. "It's Playmaker-sama!"

"We're sorry!" The red penguin apologized. "We won't bother you guys again!"

The two penguins then waddled as fast as they could.

The blue-haired idol smiled. What a relief.

She was in no mood to approach creepy fans like those two creatures.

Who were they in real life anyway? Oversized fat slobs?

The same waitress came to their table minutes later, holding a platter of three elegant crystal cups along with two platters of delicious looking food.

"It's here!" Soulburner's mouth watered.

"Here you go." The waitress sweetly said as she placed the food on the table. When she looked at Blue Angel, she glared at her and carelessly threw it on the table, spilling it all over, onto her dress.

"My dress!" The blue-haired idol complained. A small devious chuckle escaped the waitresses' mouth.

Soulburner began chomping down on the food while Playmaker took small bites.

Blue Angel just looked at them eating. She realized that their two personalities were like day and night.

Soulburner was just a laid-back guy while Playmaker was more serious.

But she should just wait and see.

After all, she only knew Soulburner for a day. Who knew what was coming ahead?

On a tall building, a figure stood at the edges, frowning down at Link VRAINS.

"This place is so disgusting!" The figure murmured. It had a male voice. "And I know just how to destroy it. I'm going to target Link VRAINS's most popular idol, Blue Angel."


End file.
